What an amazing six decade story. You probably already know the name Peter Asher, but this film does an amazing job tracking the arc of a career of an artist who was really just about everywhere.
George Martin was already an oboe student of Peter Asher’s mother. So when those two entered The Beatles’ orbit, it was no surprise. But we are getting ahead of the story.
Peter was part of an eclectic artistic family. With his two sisters the trio dabbled in film, but Jane was the most successful. She caught Paul McCartney’s eye, and soon the pair were a couple. Jane’s parents invited Paul to essentially move into their London home, where he says he enjoyed a more erudite family setting than his working class Liverpudlian background. With a piano in the basement, John Lennon would come over for songwriting sessions. A wonderful early sequence in the film is when Peter was called down and was the first in the world to hear “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
The film is built around the “Storytellers” setting first introduced by Ray Davies; a crack band accompanies Asher while he walks us through his life story.
When Asher was getting his own recording career off the ground with Gordon Waller, McCartney gave the duo a song that Lennon did not particularly like, “A World Without Love.” Upon release it shot to number one around the world, dislodging The Beatles. That made for myriad clever headlines.
McCartney subsequently supplied the duo a string of songs, and the film does a great job finding old TV clips as the duo Peter and Gordon followed in the wake of The Beatles conquering of America. An astounding number of celebrities weigh in with their observations. The film is ably directed and produced by Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller, who previously showed their acumen with Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song.
Despite conquering America and embarking on many successful package tours as Peter and Gordon, Asher found time to launch the Indica bookstore with John Dunbar and Barry Miles. Asher recalls how convenient it was to have a sister whose boyfriend not only provided a string of number one hit songs, but was able to build bookshelves for the shop.
Dunbar returns from Cambridge smitten with Marianne Faithfull and asks Asher to be his best man. Asher cheekily tells the story that he was not responsible for breaking up The Beatles just because Lennon met Yoko Ono at Indica, but Asher was responsible for introducing Faithfull to Mick Jagger, which is a whole other fascinating story from the era.
Asher becomes head of A&R at a fledgling company The Beatles called Apple and signs his first artist James Taylor on the recommendation of Danny Kortchmar, with whom Asher previously had been in a band. Not mentioned in the film is the assumption that Taylor was happy about getting his break in the music business, even if George Harrison presumably liked the former’s “Something in the Way She Moves” enough to become the first line of his song “Something.”
The film shifts gears when Asher decamps to California, where he helps define the California singer songwriter scene with James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Carole King.
By insisting on album cover credits for the studio band he assembled for these artists, Asher altered the protocol and allowed the light to shine on all the players.
The film moves smoothly to a poignant reunion with Waller after many decades.
Asher eventually produced a string of wildly eclectic performers, from Diana Ross and Elton John to Robin Williams and Randy Newman’s criminally underrated Faust. I attended a wonderful star-studded Buddy Holly tribute concert in Los Angeles which Asher produced. And let’s not forget his production of 2013’s Grammy-winning Steve Martin – Edie Brickell collaboration Love Has Come For You.
This is a well-crafted film about a talented, humble artist who achieved massive success both in the spotlight and behind the mixing board. Indeed, it is in the latter arena that this film shines the brightest.
Trailer for the film HERE.
PETER ASHER: EVERYWHERE MAN will be released theatrically in New York on June 19th and nationwide (including LA) on June 26th via Greenwich Entertainment.
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